Saturday, April 30, 2011

Battleflag is Flag of Constitution

I have loved the flag of the United States. I have fought under it in combat in World War II and in Vietnam. Later as a research historian, I re-studied United States history. That research has convinced me that “Old Glory” no longer represents how our citizens live and how our government functions.

The South said the same thing in 1861 and decided to create a new flag that symbolized the constitutional democratic republic the Founding Fathers gave them.

The South understood what we are now beginning to learn, that the stars in the “old star-spangled banner” no longer spangle and the stripes no longer represent the original 13 states that ratified the Constitution and swore to defend it.

This new flag the South created is the Battle Flag of the Confederate States of America. That flag depicts stars that “spangle” and shine brightly because they represent sovereign states. These states are not pawns in a despotic, centralized over-reaching federal government.

The Confederate Battle Flag with its 13 sovereign states embedded on a blue and white St. Andrew’s Cross represents much better symbolically the “state of the union” as it was in 1861 and as it should be today.

The Battle Flag is more than a political secular emblem of state. It is a religious emblem as well because it bears the cross of St. Andrew.

When the pagan Roman government ordered the crucifixion of St. Andrew, he asked that he not be crucified as was Jesus. He said he was unworthy to die as his Lord died. The cross on which St. Andrew died was tilted sideways resembling an “X” which is the central figure of the Confederate Battle Flag.

That flag is not a symbol of rebellion, hate and racism as those ignorant obsessive ideologues call it. It is instead a symbol of the South’s love for the Constitution and her courage, bravery and heritage. The Battle Flag reminds me that it is a corrective symbol to help change all that which has one wrong with our once beautiful “city of light on a hill.”

The Cumberland Historic Cemetery Organization will hold a Memorial Service at the Confederate Pollock Cemetery located at the end of River Road in Mexico Farms near the C&O Canal just south of Cumberland. The public is welcome in observance of Confederate History Month. Sat., April 30, 2 p.m.